I haven’t talked about her much this year, but J-Dub is my friend and baking antithesis. I love her to pieces, which is why I tease her, and the stories I tell (her starting a fire once with chocolate chips and a microwave; her wanting to wrangling both of our little kids instead of making a treat to sell for our MOPS fundraiser; me using her oven for its first baking even long after she moved in…) are absolutely true.
She loves this picture of us. I just know it.
Much like Clark Griswold dedicates his tree to the Griswold Family Christmas, I dedicate these cookies to J-Dub and the one time she made them. Good things must be celebrated.
These are pretty simple. I put two sticks of butter in a pot (and then use the wrappers to grease my pan) and add a cup of brown sugar. While it’s coming to a boil, I arrange my graham crackers on my greased cookie sheet (with edges…this is very important). I go edge to edge with the graham crackers and leave only a little space at the end.
Once the mixture has been brought to a bowl, let it boil for 2 minutes. Then pour on the graham crackers. (Also? My kids normally couldn’t care less about graham crackers. But when I’m using them in a recipe, they ask for some. I don’t get it.) Top with chopped pecans and bake for 10 minutes. When it comes out, it should be bubbly.
Cut it when it’s still somewhat warm and wait to eat it. Otherwise, you risk pulling out a filling. I’ve done it. It’s expensive. Wait.
There’s been no word from J-Dub if she’s attempted these or any other baking adventures this year. I feel pretty safe in assuming there haven’t been any.
J-Dub’s Toffee Grahams
(from Gooseberry Patch’s Old Fashioned Country Cookies)
24 square graham crackers
2 sticks butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325. Arrange cracker squares on a lightly greased cookie sheet with edges around it. In a saucepan, bring the butter and sugar to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Pour over crackers, covering them well. Sprinkle with nuts and bake for about 10 minutes. Cool slightly and cut into 24 squares or 48 “fingers.”
Jeanne and I have been friends since we were 10 years old. Now that we’re almost 40, that means we’ve lived nearly 3/4 of our lives being friends. Wow. That sentence made me feel old.
Anyway, Jeanne came over this afternoon to be my special guest star. She forwarded me one of her favorite recipes a few days ago and I made sure I had the right ingredients on hand.
Jeanne, my friend for nearly 30 years. She’s the keeper of the secrets and baker of the cookies with pepper in them.
Well, most of them.
Because this recipe calls for both black pepper and cayenne pepper, and I only saw the black pepper part, I had to go to the store once Jeanne got here. Eh. It happens.
Once I got back from the store, we were able to finish the recipe.
Jeanne and her husband Mike always have the most fun recipes to share (and parties to attend…and twins to play with…and…well I guess they are just fun people in general). Like I said above, this one has two kinds of pepper in it, but it works in the recipe. It’s not spicy, it’s more like a heat that you get in the back of your throat. And it’s definitely more chocolatey than other chocolate cookie recipes!
This week seems to be a weird mix of super busy and “Oh I have plenty of time until Christmas.” Today I decided to use the preserves I purchased a week ago and make Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies.
I made these a few years ago, and learned the important lesson that jelly won’t cut it for these. My classy red currant jelly ended up looking like a murder scene on a cookie sheet. So when I was grocery shopping, I made sure I chose preserves.
The recipe is a simple one, which I love, and these bake up pretty quickly. I’m still not great at filling the thumbprints, but they didn’t overflow and I dust powdered sugar over them anyway.
Through the magic of television, I mean the internet, my cookie balls were transformed into thumbprint cookies. I used strawberry preserves and mango-peach preserves. And I filled a few with almond pie filling, but those are just for me.
When it came to dusting with powdered sugar, I apparently have a heavy hand.
It reminds me of the scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen sneezes into the cocaine.
These are a crowd pleaser, and makes your house smell amazing!
½ cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, plus ¼ cup more for dusting
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp table salt
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup fruit preserves
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, blend butter and sugar until fluffy and light, 2 minutes. Add vanilla and salt, scraping down bowl as needed. Switch to low and gently mix in flour, just until combined. Don’t over mix.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets. Press down the center of each ball with a spoon (or your thumb!) making a slight depression.
Fill cookie centers with a teaspoonful of preserves. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and puffy, but take care not to overbake. Let cool a few minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to finish cooling on wire rack.
When cookies are completely cooled, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cookies can be kept in airtight container at room temp for a few days.
Because I’m in a typhoon of grading/writing/shuttling kids, I’m going to leave this one as a pictorial today, along with the recipe. It’s like all these people that pay me expect me to finish my work on time.
Do the recipe. Roll in sugar. Smash with glass and bake.
In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg for 20 seconds, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar until well blended. Mix in egg, then blend in molasses and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees during last 10 minutes of chilling.
Scoop dough out about 1 1/2 Tbsp at a time, shape into balls then roll in remaining 3 Tbsp granulated sugar. Transfer to Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart (keep dough chilled that is not currently baking), flatten tops just slightly (to evenly level). Bake in preheated oven 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
In a microwave safe bowl, melt 1 cup white chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp shortening at a time in microwave on HIGH power in 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until melted, smooth and fairly runny (I did batches of it because it will cool as your dipping, plus its easy to burn so you don’t want to work with too much of it at a time. Then once you’ve used it up melt more, you may not need all 3 cups). Dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate mixture then run bottom of cookie slightly along edge of bowl to remove excess, then return to Silpat or parchment paper to set at room temperature.
Sprinkle sprinkles on top, after the long journey to decide which ones to use
I’ve never officially made these as part of my 24 Days of Cookies, but I have made them before for other things. They are amazing. They are more than amazing, like stupendous, super duper, and outrageous (in a good way). They are so good that this is the first time I have doubled a recipe on an official cookie-baking day.
I made these last week for my Composition 1 class, and they were gone within minutes. On the site where I got the recipe, the lady writes that they are deceptive and kids don’t normally go for them, which is fine because it means more for the adults. I agree with this statement, however my kids now know what these are, which means they will polish off a whole batch before someone else gets a chance to try one. Hence, the doubling.
Normally, you mix 3/4 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons of almond extract and let it sit. Because I doubled it, that was 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 4 teaspoons. Now, I love almond, but even this was a bit strong-smelling to begin with. My son always likes to tell me how cyanide smells like almonds (thanks internet) so whenever I make this, I think about cyanide and wonder if it tastes as good as almond extract and sugar do. And then I schedule an appointment for a psychiatrist, because I clearly have some issues.
In my mixer went double amounts as well: two sticks of unsalted butter and 12 ounces of cream cheese. I looked for the scene of the movie Julie and Julia, where Meryl Streep says there’s so much butter, it can stop your heart, but I couldn’t find it in gif form. But that’s where my head goes. (Along with cyanide, apparently.) This is definitely a rich dough. To that, I added two egg yolks instead of one (because, again doubling), and my dry ingredients, also doubled.
(I keep saying I doubled it because I know I would probably miss it if someone said this in a blog and I’d compare my dough to their pictures and wonder where I went wrong. And then I’d probably cry or get mad or both and vow to never make anything again. So to make sure I don’t kill any one’s baking future, I keep saying that I doubled this recipe.)
For this dough, you do have to roll it out, which is not my favorite thing to do, but because these cookies are so good, I do it happily. My silicone mat is leftover from my Pampered Chef days and it has measurements on it, which is great because for this I need my dough to be a 12×12 square. (This part is not doubled! I just rolled it out twice for two batches.) I cut away whatever is above that measurement and add pieces of dough to where it’s lacking.
From there, I split in in half and then take a tablespoon of butter and spread it all over the dough. Remember, these are called Almond Butter Sticks, and for good reason. Then, one half the dough goes on a cookie sheet and the almond sugar is spread on.
The other half is then put on top, butter-side down, and I pinch the edges to make sure they stay closed. You want all this almond buttery goodness inside the dough, I promise. Brush on the egg white and top with sliced almonds and sugar, and in a 375 degree oven it goes.
Because this dough has no sugar in it, your kids will not be interested in licking the bowl. At all. But, my feline friends are all about it.
You can’t tell here, but they were definitely licking it clean. I even gave them the rubber spatula. They’re sleeping it off now.
As this bakes, your house will smell like a warm french pastry, which is something I’m okay with.
Let it cool, and then cut it in half lengthwise, and then cut pieces in one inch increments.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon (divided)
6 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, separated (white reserved for glazing)
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon coarse sugar for topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the sugar and almond extract; cover and set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
In a large mixing bowl combine 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter and cream cheese. Beat on low until blended. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Add the remaining flour and blend just until the dough starts to come together.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Knead by hand about 25 strokes until the dough is pliable. Roll or press into a 12×12 inch square. Spread with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.
Cut the dough in half and place one half on the prepared cookie sheet, butter side up.
Spoon the sugar mixture to within 1/2-inch of the dough edges all the way around. Place the remaining dough half, butter side down, over the sugar. Press the edges tightly to seal.
Brush the dough with a lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with almonds and coarse sugar.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. It’s best removed from the oven when you think it needs one or two more minutes.
Cool at least 30 minutes.
Cut the pastry in half lengthwise and then into 1/2 to 1 inch strips crosswise.
We had a busy day today. Or it at least seemed busy. We had pretty much one thing to do today, and it was at 4, but somehow the day got away from me. It was 2 before I started the cookies, which is why this post is a little later than normal.
My kids love meringue cookies, especially these, and so do I . It’s something with the cinnamon in it, I think. These are a staple in our home at Christmas, well until they all get eaten. They go pretty quickly.
To start these cookies, you need four egg whites. I found a new method for separating eggs earlier this month, and it works really well. Yes, I use my hand.
After the egg whites are frothy, I add the almond extract, cinnamon, cream of tartar, and powdered sugar. I keep whipping them until there are stiff peaks.
This is not a stiff peak.
This is a stiff peak.
Then comes the fun part…loading the decorating bag with gobs of sticky meringue. Thankfully, there were no casualties this year.
It always takes me a few tries before I find my rhythm. For this batch, I found it easier to put the tip on the cookie sheet, rather than start it above where I wanted it. To me, it looks more like snowflakes like this. After I piped them all, I found different colored sugars and shook them over the snowflake globs. I used a shimmery white, light blue, and gold, but you really can only see the gold. It’s cool; I know it’s there.
I left for the 4 pm band concert at 3 (hey, those seats aren’t going to save themselves) and left the cookie sheets out to dry. When I came back at 6, they were no dryer than when I left, so I popped them in a 210 degree oven for about 25 minutes, and that seemed to do the trick.
Snowflake Meringue Cookies (from The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook, Volume 4)
Ingredients:
4 egg whites 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar 1 t. almond extract 1/2 t. ground cinnamon 1/2 t. cream of tartar decorating sugar
Directions:
1. Cover baking sheets with waxed paper. 2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add powdered sugar, almond extract, cinnamon, and cream of tartar; beat until very stiff. 3. Spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip. Make snowflake design. Add decorating sugars. 4. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
I’ve been doing this cookie thing for a long time now. The first official year of 24 Days of Cookies was in 2004, when my now 16 year-old son was a precocious two-year-old. He was an only child at that point (and he’d joke that those were the good ol’ days) and was the cutest little dude you ever did see.
Because 2004 was about a million years ago, I don’t have those pictures digital on my computer, but I do have this picture of Nate when he was 3, so just imagine this dude a year younger. Precious.
Anyway, Nate has been my longest-running taste-tester, beater-licker, and cookie-sampler. Nowadays, he’s also my bus boy and world’s greatest dishwasher. Let’s just say he doesn’t have the same enthusiasm about 24 Days of Cookies ever since he was upgraded from garbage to dishes, but he doesn’t complain. Much.
Last week, he sent me a text from upstairs (because: teenagers), with a cookie recipe. He’s never suggested a cookie before. They grow up so fast.
Here he is now, at drivers ed last week. Doesn’t he look thrilled to be taking a picture with his mom?
So, for Nate, I made Eggnog Cookies today. The recipe looked pretty good and tasted even better.
I creamed together the butter and sugars, and once again, the recipe called for it to be pale and fluffy. What’s with that? It’s got brown sugar in it too, so I wasn’t sure how pale this would end up.
After adding vanilla and rum extracts to this, I added the pièce de rèsistance:
This is a hot commodity in our house. My middle son has been asking for eggnog for awhile, and so I bought two quarts early in the week. Aside from a glass or two by other people, he drank both quarts on the sly, and then complained all evening of digestive disturbance. Even with those natural consequences, I had to buy this secretly and hide it.
After adding all the dry ingredients, I put the dough on my parchment-lined baking sheets and baked them as directed. Because I think my oven is a few degrees cooler than normal (hi landlord…), it took a few minutes longer, but ultimately turned out pretty well.
I then got started on the frosting, which also calls for rum extract and eggnog. And butter, and a crapload of powdered sugar.
Can anyone make frosting without making a mess? I seem to just have a knack for the mess, and I hope there are others out there like me.
Once frosted, I topped the cookies with a shake or two of nutmeg. Nate emerged from his den of adolescence and ate one. He gave his seal of approval and said they tasted just like eggnog.
1/2 cup butter , at room temperature (I used 1/4 cup salted and 1/4 cup unsalted butter)
3 – 5 Tbsp eggnog
1/2 tsp rum extract
3 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon for 30 seconds, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.
Mix in egg yolks one at a time, blending just until combined after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract, rum extract and egg nog. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Scoop dough out by the heaping tablespoonfuls and drop onto Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart.
Bake in preheated oven 11 – 13 minutes. Allow to rest on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely then frost with Eggnog Frosting and sprinkle tops lightly with nutmeg.
For the Eggnog Frosting:
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter until very pale and fluffy. Add in rum extract and 3 Tbsp eggnog and mix in powdered sugar. Add additional eggnog to reach desired consistency.
Yesterday was my last day of the semester, so now it’s just grading to get done and I’m free until January! Well, minus my other gigs and parenting and general adulting. But I’m not worrying about those things today. Today, it was sleeping in, cleaning, and making Italian Sand Cookies.
I found the recipe for this years ago on Pinterest, and ever since, they’ve been a staple in my December cookie baking. However, during the three Louisiana years, they didn’t turn out quite right. I’m not sure if it was the humidity or my own distraction (you know, leaving the mixer on too long while I write another paragraph about Elizabeth Barrett Browning), but they spread out way too much there. We still ate them, so I’m not exactly sure what I’m complaining about.
Again, the recipe amuses me. It lists all of the ingredients, and for the directions, it says, “Creaming method.” If you don’t know what that is, it’s mixing together the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Before creaming.
Sufficiently creamed.
It’s pretty simple really. Then you add the cornstarch and flour, and mix it all together. Again, I needed more flour than the recipe calls for…I used about another 1/3 of a cup. And when I was all done mixing, I looked for my beater-lickers, but alas, they were all at school.
So I guess I had to do it. It’s a sacrifice I was willing to make.
I piped them with a star tip onto my baking sheet and put them in the over. I also kinda burst the bag because I don’t know my own strength, and then had to put my finger over that part so the dough wouldn’t come out there. These are the behind the scenes things you don’t get with professional baking blogs.
They baked up wonderfully and looked the way they were supposed to look. After they cooled, I dipped them in melted chocolate (chocolate chips with a little crisco to make it thinner), and topped them with sprinkles. These take a while to dry, so I set them outside on my back step for 15 minutes. (Thanks 21 degree Illinois day!)
1 1/2 cups flour (we used AP) 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/2 cup shortening 1/2 cup butter 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar * 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract 2 eggs *(we also liked 3/4 c. conf sugar & 1/4 c. granulated which made them a slight bit sweeter)
Directions:
Creaming method. Put through bag with large star tip. Bake @ 375 F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Decorate with choc chips, sprinkles or leave plain and dip half in melted choc., etc.
So, I’m a home baker. That means I’ve had no professional training in baking and everything I know about cookies comes from books, my mom, my friends, websites, and youtube videos. I also screw up a lot, which may be what you are here to see. I keep it real. Maybe that’s what you like about my yearly project.
Everyone needs goals, right? I have made macarons in the past, and they were not very pretty. On my sad baking bucket list, I have Make actual good-looking and tasting French Macarons. (I also have Get ever color and shape of sprinkle ever made, but that one is still in progress.) I thought 2018 was the best time to check off that Macaron one off my list.
This is what they looked like last time, about 4-5 years ago.
Now, I will continue to keep it real: I had to make this twice. The first one was dyed Cookie Monster blue and was turning out just fine, until the very end. I threw them away before I filled them. I had pictures, but I deleted them because my phone is at capacity. They were also too salty, and later I discovered why.
So I tried again.
For French Macarons, you need almond flour or finely ground almond meal. I watched this Youtube video and followed it step by step, like I did for the first batch. But I also checked out their (Tasty 101) actual written recipe too, and realized there was too much salt in my first batch. I fixed that.
This is about half of my sugar and almond flour mixture.
They suggest you put your sugar and almond flour in a food processor and pulse it at least 10 times, which I did. If you do this, know that my food processor is a mini-one which is why it’s filled nearly to the top. They also suggest that you sift it at least twice. I did this too. I was determined to get this right.
The wet ingredients are egg whites and sugar. The video didn’t say so, but I know that Macarons need caster sugar, which is special and very fine sugar. I bought a jar of it. And when I went to open it, I couldn’t do it. That’s pretty rare for me. I tried for 15 minutes to open it. I ran it under hot water. I put it between my legs and used both arms to try and get it open. And when I had pretty much exhausted myself, I decided to take a knife and stab it open.
Somehow, I did not get tetanus.
That worked. It’s like what I tell my students: work smarter, not harder.
Since I dyed the first batch and it looked like Smurf-icide, I decided to not dye this one and let the color of the blueberry filling be the beautiful color in this batch. I used fresh blueberries and made a buttercream filling, and the color was just gorgeous. More on this soon.
When it was all folded together properly (but not too much), I filled a pastry bag and piped my macarons on to a baking sheet. After that, I dropped the tray four or five times, as you are supposed to to make sure that all the air bubbles make their way to the top and release. I let them rest for an hour, as I was supposed to do.
While that was going, I went back to my blueberry filling. I started it with the first batch and when things went awry there, I stopped. I put a cup of blueberries, a cup of sugar, and a cup of water on the stove and let it boil and come down, simmering for about 10 minutes. I wanted it to be thick like jelly, but it was still a little runny. After it cooled, I put it through a metal mesh colander to get the skins and chunks out, so all I had left was beautiful blueberry puree.
Ingredients: blueberries, sugar, water, and a teaspoon of lemon juice.
I found a recipe for how to make fresh blueberry buttercream online and followed the instructions. A very long story later, I had purple frosting that tasted like butter…and butter alone. This was turning out to be a comedy of errors. The Macaron gods were laughing at me.
After a few four-letter words and a tv show later, I summoned the gumption to try again. I got out more blueberries, sugar, and water. I made my puree again. And this time, I winged it. I put just a rubber spatula dollop of the purple butter-tasting butter cream into a bowl, added my new puree, and whisked until my anger had dissolved. I also added a whole bunch of powdered sugar to make it the right consistency. I mean, what good is fresh blueberry buttercream if you can’t taste the blueberries?
I mean…look how beautiful! And this batch actually tasted like blueberries!
By then, it was time to put my macarons in the oven. When the first batch didn’t go well, I went online to see a macaron trouble-shooting guide. Since mine did not develop feet the first time, I started there. Feet are an important part of the macaron. I figured out that my oven was too cool, which I kind of knew but didn’t officially know, so I upped my temp to 310.
Those are macaron feet! I did it!
There was success!
I filled them and called my kids around to admire the beauty of my nearly perfect macarons. They feigned minimal interest and asked if they could have one.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, almond flour, and ½ teaspoon of salt, and process on low speed, until extra fine. Sift the almond flour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl.
In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt with an electric hand mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the granulated sugar until fully incorporated. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without anything falling out).
Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the food coloring and beat until just combined.
Add about ⅓ of the sifted almond flour mixture at a time to the beaten egg whites and use a spatula to gently fold until combined. After the last addition of almond flour, continue to fold slowly until the batter falls into ribbons and you can make a figure 8 while holding the spatula up.
Transfer the macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
Place 4 dots of the batter in each corner of a rimmed baking sheet, and place a piece of parchment paper over it, using the batter to help adhere the parchment to the baking sheet.
Pipe the macarons onto the parchment paper in 1½-inch (3-cm) circles, spacing at least 1-inch (2-cm) apart.
Tap the baking sheet on a flat surface 5 times to release any air bubbles.
Let the macarons sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until dry to the touch.
Preheat the oven to 300˚F (150˚C).
Bake the macarons for 17 minutes, until the feet are well-risen and the macarons don’t stick to the parchment paper.
Transfer the macarons to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
Confession: Today’s cookie was actually started last night so I could let the icing dry. I hope you forgive me.
We spent the last three years in Louisiana while I went to graduate school. It was a big change from Wisconsin, where we moved from, and it took some getting used to. I didn’t always like it there, but last year around this time, I told my friend Lauren (who was also in graduate school with me) that we would come to miss that place and she agreed. My last semester, the place kinda grew on me. When we graduated and were getting ready to move (me to Chicagoland, Lauren to get her PhD in Florida), she gave me this.
She painted it herself and when she was packing up to move, she asked if I wanted it. I did. I never thought I would, but I did. Now, it’s a tad dirtier in my possession than it ever was in her’s, because this lives in my kitchen, behind my kitchen sink where I see it a dozen or more times a day. Splatters happen.
I knew I wanted to make a Louisiana cookie, and I ordered a cookie cutter in the shape of the state. When it arrived, I needed to think of the proper cookie for it. I knew I wanted to be able to decorate it, so it had to be a roll-out cookie. And I knew I wanted to incorporate some of the flavor of Louisiana in it. The answer was clear:
I’m obviously kidding. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a fan of spicy foods and was living in the wrong part of the country. My grad school friends especially like to tease me about this, citing the time I thought green beans at a restaurant there were too spicy. (And they were!) But there was a piece of Louisiana cuisine I did enjoy: King Cake.
Our director Amy would bring in a different king cake every week to our Thursday workshop during Epiphany (the time between January 6 and Lent). They were generally filled with things, like pecans, strawberries, cream cheese, blueberries, and once, boudin (a special sausage). The base of the cake is generally a cinnamon dough, and it’s covered with frosting and sprinkles.
So for this dough, I wanted to find something that had three things: cinnamon, cream cheese, and pecans. I came close to a recipe online but doctored it up a bit. It’s posted at the end of this post.
Oh it’s cold. Trust me.
The original recipe calls for your butter and egg to be cold. I’m not sure what difference it made, but I made sure they were.
I added a half cup of finely chopped pecans to this recipe, as well as added a tablespoon of cinnamon, just to try and get the king cake feel I was looking for. And for my Louisiana readers, no I did not put a baby in the cookies. (My kids asked.)
I chilled my dough in a ball of cling wrap for a couple hours while I did other things. When it came time to roll them out, I had to move this pretty boy.
Gilligan, the three-legged cat.
He’s such a good boy.
After I rolled out the dough and cut the cookies, I put them on a cookie sheet and then sprinkled cinnamon on them. I tried the dough and I didn’t think it was cinnamon-y enough, so this was my solution.
After they cooled, I took my pastry bag filled with yesterday’s (now) successful royal icing and outlined the cookies. After they were dry, I filled them in.
I did half white and half green, and then let them dry overnight. This morning I finished the decorating. I thought about putting the traditional king cake colors on them, but even with all my sprinkles, I only had light purple and I needed dark purple. I know, I know…these are real problems.
2 sticks unsalted butter, cool, not room temperature
1 c. granualted sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 large egg
1/2 T vanilla
1/2 c. finely chopped pecans
1 T cinnamon
extra cinnamon to sprinkle on dough
4 c. all purpose flour
Directions:
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add your cream cheese, cool unsalted butter, sugar, and salt. The temperature of the butter and the fact that you use unsalted butter matter here.
Turn your mixer on the lowest speed available. We don’t want to incorporate any air into the dough. Air will cause spreading! We only want to mix this until it starts to incorporate. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Add the cold egg and the vanilla. Again, the temperature of the eggs matter. You want to use them cold.
Again, turn your mixer on to the lowest speed and mix just until the eggs and vanilla have incorporated into the other ingredients. Scrape down the bottom and sides of your bowl. If you need to, mix for a few more seconds. You will see small pieces of butter and that’s okay!
Add the tablespoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup pecans to your wet ingredients.
Add the flour to your wet ingredients.
Once more, turn your mixer on to the lowest setting, and mix until it all comes together. It will to gather onto the paddle. It doesn’t take long, so don’t walk away from it. Turn the mixer off and touch the dough. If you can leave an imprint with your finger without the dough sticking to it, it’s ready.
Turn the dough out on to a piece of cling wrap and wrap it into a ball. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour.
Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch and cut your shapes.
Once your shapes are on the baking sheet, sprinkle cinnamon on all of them.
Bake your cookies at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack completely before icing.
24 Days of Cookies 